What We’re Playing – Nov 2010

With the snow settling all over the UK this week, Christmas is well and truly on it’s way. What are you most hoping for this holiday, waiting for you under the tree? Maybe its a title that has already come out, but your better half is waiting to give it to you on Christmas day, and all you really care about is playing it now, and not some poxy wrapping paper? I hate some of the morals we instill around this festive holiday when we should always be full of cheer and do good things for people, and all the cheesy songs that we are likely to hear for the rest of our lives, but I do like decorating my tree. Hypocritical? You could say that, but I think I just like shiny things. Anyway…

There have been some great titles recently, and we have been playing most of them. It seems Kinect and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood are sure-fire winners, with several staff members playing the titles recently.

It has also been an interesting month for Dave, our founder. Congratulations to him and his lovely lady for their engagement!

So… without further ado, here are this months instalments from the team letting you know just what we have been getting up to.

Dave

Twitter: @AcheaShadow

This month I have mostly been playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Favourite game of the month: Kinect Sports

Why? Because it’s awesome!

Most looking forward to: Gears of War 3 (still)

Rich

Twitter: @TheBerrytastic

This month I have mostly been playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Favourite game of the month: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Why? Ok, given that I’ve been churning through Black Ops online and getting mightly frustrated by the single player on veteran, my favourite game has to go to AC:B. Why? Well quite simply it’s amazing. AC is my favourite franchise for a start, but also it’s an excellent story and I find the gamplay very exciting and compelling. Ubisoft have raised the bar with Brotherhood. As the game plays out and you begin to think you have it sussed, another mechanic is thrown in. Online is quite simply a breath of fresh air. Dynamic, new and exciting; this game deserves a round of applause.

Most looking forward to: Crysis 2, and my Kinect arriving.

Jeff

Twitter: @Xboxer360Scoob

This month I have mostly been playing: Costume Quest, Fallout 3, Kinect Adventures

Favourite game of the month: Kinect Adventures

Why? Despite the “casual gaming” tag and the fact that every household in the world will be playing it come 5am on Christmas morning, Kinect Adventures is a fantastic showcase of what Microsoft’s new motion sensor can actually do, and hints at the promise of what’s to come when developers really get their heads around the tech. Sure, it’s got a real family-friendly look and feel about it, and the game types are slightly limited (only increasing in difficulty as you progress through the levels), but in terms of scope and sheer fun factor I can honestly say I’ve never had as much of a laugh whilst playing a game, ever. Or ever been so knackered…some of those later levels are quite gruelling…

… But the main reason Kinect takes my game of the month is the fact that I’ve finally managed to get my girlfriend to approach gaming with a certain sense of curiosity, and to have her come away from the console with a smile on her face, eager for more was an amazing moment.

Most looking forward to: Deus Ex: Human Revolution

Jenn

Twitter: @littlejuicebox1

This month I have mostly been playing: Fable 3, The Undergarden, Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga

Favourite game of the month: Fable 3

Why? I was so excited about this game’s arrival that I even bought the collector’s edition. After playing it, and its download, I am rather disappointed. Sure I got my Fable fix to an extent, but this game certainly didn’t live up to the hype. I know to some, none of the titles quite lived up to the crazed hysteria set upon us by Molyneux, but nevertheless I still enjoyed them immensely. Well not anymore! There wasn’t even any mention of the storyline surrounding the Spire, and Theresa wasn’t in the actual plot as much as I would have hoped. She just sort of… appeared in that good for nothing level-up system, ‘Road To Rule’, and that was that. So why is it my favourite game? After slagging it off, I still got my Fable fix… just. I blitzed through the whole game, collected everything, and just about enjoyed the plot, and for a semi-large game, I must have enjoyed it to finish it in three days.

My favourite should have really been the arcade game The Undergarden, as my review sang nothing but praise, but Fable 3 just tips the scale in it’s favour, as I am, and will probably always sadly a Fable fan-girl.

Most looking forward to: Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean

Tom

Twitter: @nosignalinput

This month I have mostly been playing: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Fallout: New Vegas

Favourite game of the month: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Why? As soon as it was announced I was very apprehensive about buying AC: Brotherhood. From what I could see it looked like an expansion to AC 2, but after playing it for a few hours I could see I was clearly wrong.

After initially being bored to tears by the first game I absolutely loved the sequel, so it was great to get back to Ezio and – to a lesser extent – Desmond in this one. While it has a lot of the features of the second game it tweaks and improves them whilst adding other’s, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more pleased to ride a horse through the streets (one negative here is that the horses are nowhere near as well designed as the Red Dead: Redemption horses). You’ll also be overwhelmed by the amount of stuff there is to do in Rome, from side missions to buying various businesses, as more content is always a good thing in my book. I’ve only tried the multiplayer for a short while, and although I can’t see it having longevity value it’s still exciting and fairly original. Patience is key here, which is a fresh change from constantly running around shooting things.

All-in-all it’s a great game, with a storyline that’s increasingly getting more interesting and a multiplayer that’s a fun diversion. I’m now very curious about what they can do with the inevitable Assassin’s Creed 3.

Most looking forward to: The upcoming reveal of the new Bioware game.

Ryan

Twitter: @RyanSyrett

This month I have mostly been playing: Trials HD, PES 11, Fable 3

Favourite game of the month: PES 11

Why? I’ve just got into playing the master league after doing a few seasons of the create-a-star mode, and I have to say it’s pretty damn fun. Gameplay wise some player’s glitch out and just stand there from time to time. When you change player the computer gives you someone nowhere near the ball sometimes. It does leave me scratching my head, but the most important thing is I am enjoying it. This truly says something about how much of a let down Fable 3 was to me.

Most looking forward to: Fallout: New Vegas. It’s just gone down to 20 quid and I get paid in 2 days!!!

Marco

Twitter: @m_fiori

This month I have mostly been playing: Dance Central, Crazy Taxi

Favourite game of the month: Crazy Taxi…

Why? …hands down. Sure, it might be a port of an older Dreamcast title, but it’s also my favourite arcade game of all time (with Time Crisis 2 in a close second). It’s ludicrous and insane, but in such a sterile gaming environment where everything nowadays plays it safe, it’s a breath of fresh air. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quick 15minutes Arcade title.

Oddly, despite being a man (which automatically labels me pants at dancing), I’ve been playing a lot of Harmonix’s Kinect title, Dance Central. It’s genuinely caught me unawares – I’d heard little of it and originally shown little interest in its hype. Yet, after spending around 30 minutes with the game, I’ve been hooked. The inclusion of XBL leaderboards for each song has only strengthened my addiction.

With a wide range of dance moves (each more hilarious than the last) and songs, it’s managed to get me up off my sofa, burning some calories.

Most looking forward to: Not so much a game, but more Kinect’s ongoing lifespan. I’ve been very impressed with the product so far and am exciting to see what developers bring out for it. It’s going to be an interesting two years.

Jamie

Twitter: @jamietarren

This month I have mostly been playing: Call of Duty: Black Ops, Borderlands – The Robolution DLC, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Favourite game of the month: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

Why? Jumping off the Black Ops bandwagon and onto another intense and popular franchise, I moved onto Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. First off I would like to thank Xboxer360 for giving me the chance to review this title, as it’s purely remarkable and more than I expected. My expectations for Brotherhood were similar to that of Assassin’s Creed 2, but with Multiplayer. However once I had the game loaded up and was well underway with the story, I realised how far off my expectations were. For starters Brotherhood, in my opinion is the best title to the franchise. It has great gameplay and combat similar to Assassin’s Creed 2 and the storyline is vital to Brotherhood because it will fill a time gap between Assassin’s Creed 2 and 3. Another added bonus to Brotherhood has been Multiplayer, which involves assassinating other players who are given as your target. Once they spot you it begins a chase, where quite simply you have to run after them and kill them. Even this seems to be fairly polished for a first attempt at bringing multiplayer to the Assassins. To sum up, Brotherhood is a thrilling title and if you’ve bought any of the previous games in the franchise, you should buy this one too.

Most looking forward to: Test Drive Unlimited 2

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The next issue of ‘What We’re Playing’ will be just after Christmas, so we can inform you of the exciting things that were under our trees this year.